Tens of thousands bid farewell to Morgan Tsvangirai

Ban meets junta chief over aid crisis

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has met the reclusive junta leader in the Burmese capital Naypyidaw in the hope of getting the green light for a full-scale relief operation. The UN says that only 25% of the Nargis survivors have received aid.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon left early Friday for Myanmar's remote capital of Naypyidaw to meet junta leader Than Shwe and press him to accept a full-scale cyclone relief operation.

Before leaving New York on Tuesday, the UN chief could not get the senior general to take his calls or answer his letters, but Ban now hopes to make clear the urgency of the crisis.

The meeting in Naypyidaw comes one day after Ban met with Prime Minister Thein Sein and toured part of the hard-hit Irrawaddy Delta to witness the cyclone damage for himself.

The cyclone left more than 133,000 dead or missing, and the United Nations estimates that only 25 percent of the people severely affected by the storm have received international aid.